Showing results by author "Dashiell Hammett" in All Categories

Paul Madvig was a cheerfully corrupt ward-heeler who aspired to something better: the daughter of Senator Ralph Bancroft Henry, the heiress to a dynasty of political purebreds. Did he want her badly enough to commit murder? And if Madvig was innocent, which of his dozens of enemies was doing an awfully good job of framing him? Dashiell Hammett’s tour de force of detective fiction combines an airtight plot, authentically venal characters, and writing of telegraphic crispness. A one-time detective and a master of deft understatement, Hammett invented the noir crime novel.

Steely. Seasoned. Smart-alecky. The storied San Francisco snooper is back! Share the exciting exploits of Dashiell Hammett's famous gumshoe through this thrilling 6-hour collection. Featuring all of the episodes from both our Volume One and Volume Two collections, Howard Duff and Steve Dunne star as Sam Spade in 12 madcap capers from 1946 - 1951. As crass as he is charismatic, this dynamic detective attracts a curious clientele - gentlemen who tend to drop dead and ladies who are drop-dead gorgeous.

Dashiell Hammett was a crime writer who elevated the genre to true literature, and The Thin Man was Hammett’s last - and most successful - novel. Following the enormous success of The Thin Man movie in 1934, Hammett was commissioned to write stories for additional films. He wrote two full-length novellas for the films that became After the Thin Man and Another Thin Man.

Follow private detective Sam Spade as he navigates a web of deceit, betrayal, and murder in pursuit of the elusive black bird. With Vendetti's commanding narration and Howlett's evocative portrayal of Brigid O'Shaughnessy, this audiobook delivers the tension, intrigue, and drama of Hammett's classic like never before. Experience the sharp dialogue, unforgettable characters, and twists that defined the golden age of detective fiction. Perfect for fans of crime thrillers and timeless mysteries.

The Continental Detective Agency's Operative is sent on a case to Personville. The locals call their town "Poisonville," and the Op would soon find out why as the bodies start piling up. Dirty cops, gang wars, floozies, bootleggers, and hit men are all in Dashiell Hammett's first full-length novel featuring the Continental Op, the original hard-boiled private detective.

Brilliant detective Sam Spade is the quintessential private eye, with his own code of ethics. When a standard stakeout goes wrong and Spade’s partner is killed, he finds himself drawn into the hunt for a fantastic treasure of dubious origin—a golden bird encrusted with jewels. But he’s not the only one on the trail of the falcon. Hot on his heels are Joel Cairo, a perfumed grifter; an oversized adventurer named Gutman; and Spade’s new client Brigid O’Shaughnessy, a beautiful but treacherous woman whose loyalties shift at the drop of a hat.

J. Scott Smart stars as "The Fat Man", Brad Runyon, the stout-but-stalwart investigator who was first conceived as an arch villain in Hammett's classic novel The Maltese Falcon. Charismatic and captivating, Runyon has a way with the ladies, in spite of his 237 pounds. Nick Charles, "The Thin Man", was played on radio by William Powell, Les Damon, and Les Tremayne. Cases seem to fall in to Nick's lap...often dropped there by his wife, Nora (played by Myrna Loy and Claudia Morgan).

After The Thin Man combines crime, kisses and cocktails in the second "Thin Man" adventure! Here is the classic "Lux Radio Theater" performance of the 1936 movie hit "After The Thin Man", recreated in 1940, as a 60 minute radio adaptation with the original film stars! This Audio Archive "Feature Presentation" delivers William Powell and Myrna Loy who reprise their original roles as newly retired detective Nick Charles, and his beautiful (and wealthy) bride Nora.

Dashiell Hammett is best known as both pioneer and master of American hard-boiled detective fiction, but these dozen and a half stories both affirm that reputation and present him in a different light. Along with the full-length treatments On the Make and The Kiss-Off, this collection includes never before and rarely published stories that explore failed romance, courage in the face of uncertainty, hypocrisy, and crass opportunism.

A story about privacy and its importance for happiness and personal fulfillment.

It’s San Francisco, 1928, and Sam Spade is a wisecracking, womanising Private Investigator. Missing husbands and unfaithful wives are his usual stock-in-trade, but when the beautifully distressed Miss Wonderley calls he gets involved in a dangerous caper most people would run a mile from...

In the1930s and '40s, Black Mask was the single most important magazine for the modern mystery field. Here writers such as Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Earl Stanley Gardner reshaped the established view of mystery fiction, creating the "hard-boiled" private eye. Now this series resurrects from those pages the toughest of tough detectives in sonic dramatizations from the award-winning Hollywood Theater of the Ear.

The Continental Op is a short, squat, and utterly unsentimental tank of a private detective. Miss Gabrielle Dain Leggett is young, wealthy, and a devotee of morphine and religious cults. She has an unfortunate effect on the people around her: they have a habit of dying violently. Is Gabrielle the victim of a family curse? Or is the truth about her weirder and infinitely more dangerous? The Dain Curse is one of the Continental Op’s most bizarre cases and a tautly crafted masterpiece of suspense.

The Definitive Detective Collection brings together the finest deductive minds in fiction. Join Edgar Allan Poe's Auguste Dupin as he invents the detective genre in the mid-1800s, and follow the logical clues to the most famous detectives ever committed to paper, Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot, in London. Along the way you'll also meet Josephine Tey's formiddable Inspector Alan Grant, as-well as G. K. Chesterton's beloved Father Brown, and the more modern creations of Miss Marple, Lord Peter Wimsey, and Sam Spade as they solve crimes in wondorously inventive and ingenious ways.

When the last honest citizen of Poisonville was murdered, the Continental Op stayed on to punish the guilty—even if that meant taking on an entire town.

This Audio Archive presentation of The Adventures of Sam Spade, Detective, contains two complete, 30 minute,Sam Spade radio shows. Each episode is introduced by old radio aficionado and collector Bill Mills, who shares interesting behind-the-scenes anecdotes and informative facts about the program and its stars.

"The Dain Curse" by Dashiell Hammett, narrated by the captivating voice of Mike Vendetti. This gripping tale follows a crafty detective, The Continental Op, as he unravels a web of murder, mystery, and a supposed family curse. From the dark alleys of San Francisco to the eerie Temple of the Holy Grail, The Continental Op's relentless pursuit of truth amidst a series of baffling deaths. With Vendetti's compelling narration, experience the suspense and intrigue of Hammett's classic detective story like never before.

Cherub-faced, blue-eyed World War II hero Les Damon played detective Michael Waring - better known as The Falcon. Damon played the role with style, pulling off the character's transition from private eye to army intelligence operative with panache. This collection of 16 digitally remastered episodes begins with Waring's wars against domestic enemies, including gambling bosses, arsonists, con artists, drug dealers, and killers.

These iconic works explore the depths of human suffering, identity, and transformation, showcasing some of the most profound voices of the 20th century. From the haunting reflections on war in All Quiet on the Western Front and A Farewell to Arms to the poetic expression of inner conflict in the works of Owen, Rosenberg, and Brooke, this collection provides a window into the world of writers who grappled with the aftermath of trauma and the search for meaning.

An epic Wild West detective story as a group is hired to clean up a corrupt town. A model for many later Westerns & Detective stories.